The European Parliament resolution on the so-called "Magnitsky List" aims to undermine Russian-European contacts, State Duma international affairs committee head Alexei Pushkov told Interfax.

"This resolution of the European Parliament aims to separate Europe and Russia," he said.

Lots of positive steps have been taken in recent years for the rapprochement of Russia and EU member states, he said.

"We have a lot in common with Europe. We have made substantial progress in the promotion of contacts, visas and humanitarian exchanges in recent years. But this resolution of the European Parliament undermines the positive steps towards each other," Pushkov said.

"The European Parliament recommendations with regard to visa and other restrictions on a number of Russian officials are dangerous not because they may concern personal interests of certain individuals but because they create a negative political climate in the relations between Russia and the European Parliament," he said.

"Obviously, the European Parliament has inherited the Magnitsky List theme from the United States," Pushkov said.

"This is the creation of a number of Senators professionally engaged in anti-Russian activity and Hermitage Capital head William Browder who spares no effort or money to promote the anti-Russian resolution at every international floor, from the U.S. Congress, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament," he said.

Pushkov said he concluded from his meetings with European parliamentarians that "the Magnitsky death had been a matter of little knowledge in Europe until recently and sanctions against Russia had not been a part of the reaction."

"The theme is totally artificial," the Russian lawmaker concluded.

The European Parliament supported a resolution on Tuesday to propose the "Magnitsky List" for EU member countries. The European Parliament suggested the EU Council should prohibit European trips and freeze European bank accounts of Russian officials suspected by European deputies of their involvement in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at a detention facility.

The resolution said that the Magnitsky case was just one of the illustrative examples of the abuse of office by Russian authorities, who had been supposed to enforce law, and their disregard of the rule of law.

The resolution recalled that a number of national parliaments in EU member countries, i.e. the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Poland, had adopted resolutions demanding that their governments must enact sanctions against Russia in relation to the Magnitsky case, while other parliaments (including those in Portugal, France, Spain and Latvia) had started working on similar resolutions. The European Parliament suggested that the EU Council should make a common list of individuals responsible for the death of Magnitsky, concealment of legal information and ongoing persecution of the mother and widow of Magnitsky.

European Parliament resolutions recommending restrictive measures against a particular country are not mandatory for the EU Council, a high-ranking EU diplomat told Interfax in Brussels. "Each case of restrictive measures against a country requires unanimous approval of the EU Council. The measures cannot be applied automatically," he said.